Israel: Religious Jews Hit Most By Pandemic

By Abdelraouf ArnaoutJERUSALEM (AA) – In Israel, 75% of recently detected COVID-19 or coronavirus cases have been reported from the Jewish religious neighborhoods in Jerusalem, according to Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz.Out of 1,444 people who tested positive on Monday, 1,068 were residents of the Jewish religious neighborhoods.The Har Nof neighborhood reported 101 cases, while 80 cases were detected in Ramat Shlomo settlement in northern East Jerusalem. The Israeli authorities attributed the relatively high cases to Jewish religious gatherings in the city.Notably, West Jerusalem leads with the number of people infected with the virus. According to John Hopkins Resource Centre, so far Israel has reported 9,006 infected cases with 60 deaths. There are no figures available for the occupied East Jerusalem.More than 1.4 million cases have been reported worldwide, with Europe the worst-hit continent.The global death toll has surpassed 76,300 and but 292,100 people have recovered.Writing by Mahmoud Barakat -